Bushing and bushing-retaining means for tongs and the like



Oct. 22, 1929. E. c. WILSON BUSHING AND BUSHING RETAINING MEANS FOR TONGS AND THE LIKE Filed Oct. 5, 1926 3 Sheets-Sheet Get. 22, 1929. ET Q w so 1,732,625

Filed Oct. 5. 1926 3 Sheets-Sheet ay 4o o 27 Zgg iili Inwan/vr 11720. Cf Iii/50 a Oct. 22, 1929. Q WILSON 1,732,625

BUSHING AND BUSHING RETAINING MEANS FOR TONGS AND THE LIKE Filed Oct. 5, 1926 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 fi J7 7 -49 as /5 171 J 7.6 7 71 In yen/"or iii/1w. 67 Maia/z).

Patented Oct. 22,1929

UNITED STATES PATIENT OFFICE g ELIHU 0. WILSON, 01 LOS, ANGELES, CALIIDRNIA, LSSIGNOB T0 BYRON 31m rm co.,

0] WEST BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA, A CORPORATION OI DELAWARE BUSHING AND BUBmG-RETANING Ill EARS FOR TONGS AND m Lm Application filed 0mms, 1026. Serial R0. 189,588.

This invention has to do generally with tools for handling well pipe and the like and is more articularly concerned with bushings and ushing retaining means for such tools. i

Since the invention may be applied with particular advantage to tongs used in making and breaking joints of well pipe, I will describe the invention as applied to this particular type of im lement, but this is not to be construed as being limitative on my broader claims.

The use of bushings for the pur ose of varying the effective work-taking iameter of tongs is well understood by those skilled in the art, and therefore need not be discussed in detail here except that it may be said generally that use of such bushings effects a considerable saving in well-drilling operations, since a single tongs with a full set of bushings may be adapted to take all the different sizes of easing or pipe present in a given installation. I

It is among the objects of m invention to provide a bushing havin such characteristics that it is particular y well adapted to withstand the severe service conditions to which tools of this character are exposed, and to provide a novel means of detachably connecting the bushing to the body or jaw segment of the tongs. The bushing retaining means ma be described generally as a spring presse pin carried by the body or jaw member the spring yieldin to, allow retraction of the pm when the ushing is being applied to or detached from the aw,

and acting to extend or project the pin into locking engagement with the bushing when the latter is in applied position. It thus requires very little efiort and practically no time on the part of the operator to apply a chosen bushing to a jaw segment, and the saving of time and labor thus effected is an item of real value, as will be understood by those skilled in the art. The bushing may be freed from the jaw member with slight effort, it merely being necessary first to depress the spring-pressed pin to clear it from en agement with the bushing.

ow this invention is particularly well adapted to tongs of the type which involves a p urality of pipe encirclin se cuts or Jaws so pivoted to a lever han e t at movement of the handle in. one direction constricts the jaws about the work, and handle movement in the other direction loosens the jaws from the work. Tongs of this general nature are disclosed in a patent issued to Elihu C. Wilson, No. 1,561,963, November 17, 1925, and in a co-pending application of Robert Adams on multiple size tongs, Serial No. 749,126, filed Nov. 11, 1924, now. issued as Patent No. 1,652,551, Dec. 13, 1927, and I have shown in the drawings of the instant application a tongs similar to that shown and described in said co-pending application, though this choice of a articular tongs is not to be taken as a limitation on the present invention.

In tongs having the characteristics above set forth, the tool is reversed, top for bottom, when the direction of tongls rotation is'to be reversed. Therefore, I ave provided a rapidly operated type of retaining means which allows the top for bottom reversal of the tongs without causing or allowin displacement of the bushings with relation to the tongs.

In the preferred form of bushing retaining means, there are pin ends extending from tog and bottom faces of the Jaw member an ada ted to engage transverse extensions on the bushing. owever, by pro rly giro rtioning the various elements 0 the us g and retaining means, only one of the pin ends need be movable into retracted position in order that the bushing may be applied or detached from the jaw. Thus, while there are provided means at both top and bottom of aw and bushing to hold them together, only one of said ends need be moved during application and detachment of the bushing, to the end that a saving of time and labor is effected.

Other objects and novel features of invention will be made apparent in the following detailed description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the tongs, in open position, equipped with an embodiment o my invention; a

Fig. 2 is a reduced top plan view of the tongs in closed position about a pipe;

Fig. 3 is a section on line 3-3 of Fig. 1, except that the bushing is shown as being detached from the jaw section;

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3, but showing one step in the process of applying the bushing to the jaw segment;

Fig. 5 shows the bushing fully applied to the jaw segment;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a variational type of bushing;

Fi 7 is a view similar to Fig. 5, but showing t e type of bushing shown in Fig. 6 substituted for the bushing shown in the other figures; and

- Figs. 8, 9 and 10 show variational types of bushing retaining means.

The particular type of tongs shown in the drawings involves a plurality of pipe encircling segments or jaws so pivoted to lever handle 10 that movement of said handle constricts the jaws about work such as pipe P. For instance, the handle 10 has two pivots 11 and 12 to which inner jaws or segmental gripping members 13 and 14 are connected, and at 17 and 18 these jaws have pivoted to them the outer jaws 0r segmental gripping members 15 and 16, though the number of jaw segments provided is not essential to this invention. Jaw 15 carries spring pressed latch 19 whose latching shoulder 20 is adapted to enga e either of two lug shoulders 21 and 22 on aw 16 after the jaw segments are swung about the work.

Now tongs of the type here shown are generally applied to vertically extending pipes or casing, it following that handle 10 ordinarily extends horizontally and the axis of the jaw segment assembly extends vertically. Therefore, when I refer to certain elements of the jaws and bushings as extending vertically or horizontally, or when I refer to upper and lower faces of these members, it is to be considered that the tongs are in the position above described. These references to horizontal, vertical, and upper and lower are given merely as relative arrangements so the structure may be more clearly pointed out, and they are not, of course, to be considered as otherwise limiting, since it is perfectly apparent that tongs equipped with my improved bushings and retaining means may be applied with equal facility and advantage to horizontal or inclined work.

Since the retaining means and the bushings for each jaw segment may be identical, I will describe but one detail, choosing for this purpose, the jaw segment 15. Segment 15 has the usual inner, arcuate work gripping face 23, to which is adapted to be fitted the segmental bushing member 25, the latter having an arcuate work taking face 26, and preferably being provided with upper and lower, vertically spaced flanges 27 and 28 which extend transversely or radially from body member 25 at the side opposite face 26. Flanges 27 and 28 have arcuate shoulders or faces 29 which are adapted to engage and fit the inner face 23 of jaw 15, and extending from these flanges are upper and lower attachment lugs 30 and 31, the lugs preferably being integral with and in the plane of their associated flanges and being opposed with relation to each other.

For a purpose that will later be made apparent, it is preferable that the ends of the lugs be beveled by providing the opposed lug faces 32 with portions 33, which converge towards body member 25.

The attachment lugs 30 and 31 are provided with sockets or apertures 34 and 35, respectively, these apertures preferably being in axial alinement, and somewhat elongated in the direction in which the lugs extend, for a purpose which will hereinafter be made apparent. The attachment lugs are adapted to extend over the upper and lower faces of the jaw segment. It will be noted that the lugs are symmetrical throughout, so the bushlng may be reversed, top for bottom, to obvious advantage.

Though the invention, considered in its broader aspects, is not to thisfeature, in Figs. 3 to 5, inclusive, I have shown jaw segment 15 equipped with a bushing retaining means which includes two independent pins, one stationary, and the other movable to and from operative or locking position.

Numeral 36 designates a pin fixed within jaw 15 and having its end 37 extending beyond the lower face 38 thereof. Pin 39, preferably in axial alinement with pin 36, is mounted in the jaw for longitudinal movement towards and away from pin 36, and its end 40 is adapted to extend beyond the upper face 41 of jaw 15 when in operative or proected position. While the movable pin may be mounted in any suitable manner to allow this movement and may be provided with any suitable means, applied in any suitable manner, to hold it normally and yieldingly in projected position, the illustrated structural characteristics are preferable. Thus, enlarged bore 42 has tightly fitted in its upper end a sleeve or,bushing 43 which provides a sliding bearing of reduced diameter for pin 39, and presents a downwardly facing shoulder 44, with which an upwardly facing shoulder 45 on pin 39 is adapted to engage to limit the upward movement of the pin; an expansive coil spring 46 in bore 42 acting against downwardly facing shoulder 47 on pin 39 to hold end 40 normally and yieldingly projected into operative position. Pin 39 preferubly extends downwardly as at 48 into spring 46 to hold the latter against buckling.

Preferably, though not necessarily, upper and lower faces 38 and 41 of jaw 15 are recesscd as at 49, pin ends 37 and 40 extending v the jaw,

into these recesses. Jaws 15 ma also haye portions extending vertically beyond pm ends 37 and 40 and located at opposite sides of the recesses, so the pin ends are protected when bushing A is detached therefrom.

Recesses 49 are of a size to take lugs 30, 31, and when the bushing is applied to the jaw, the upper and lower faces of lugs 30, 31 preferably,-though not necessarily, come substantiall flush with jaw portions 50.

Tile spacing between lugs 30 and 31, is suflicientl greater-,than the vertical distance between the bottom of the jaw recesses, apertures 34 and 35 are sufliciently elongated with respect to the pin diameters, and the lugs are su ciently beveled to allow bushin A to be applied to 'aw 15 in the manner ifiustrated in Fig. 4, t ough it will be understlpod that the particular relationships and p ovisions here shown to allow such application are not necessarily limitative on the invention, considered in its broader aspects. Thus, in Fig. 4 I have shown bushing A in the position to which it has been moved after pin end 37 has been entered in aperture 35 and the bushing has been swung in a counter-clockwise direction about end 37 to cause beveled end 33 of lug 30 to engage pin end 40 and to depress it to retracted position against the action of spring 46. It then takes only added pressure against bushing face 26 to swing the ushing into the position of Fig. 5, pin end 40 being thrust upwardly by spring 46 into aperture 34 as soon as the latter is in register with said pin. The bushing is thusheld at b top and bottom against displacement from and it will be seen that it is so held even though thejaw be turned top for bottom.

Preferably, when, the bushing is applied fully to the jaw (for instance as in Fig. 5) and the arcuate shoulders 29 of the bushing flanges are in engagement with the inner,

complementaryarcuate face 23 of the jaw 15,

there will be clearance between the pin ends and those sides 51 of the aperture defining walls which are between the pin and the body portion of the bushin As a consequence of this clearance, when t e jaws are constricted tightly about the work by movement of the handle lever there is no tendency on the part of the outwardly pressed bushings to shear the pin ends.

With the use of the described type of pin retention means, it will be noted that there are no bolt or nut heads extending above or below bushing A, nor, in fact, any rojecting parts which might be damaged or cause damage in operating the tongs.

It will be noted that attachment lugs 30 and 31 are, in effect, extensions of flanges 27 and 28, and that these lugs and flanges reinforce the bushing so it need not be overly thick, especially where the tongs are bushed down considerably. However, it is not to be inferred that my invention, considered in its broader aspects, is limited to the mounting of the lugs on lateral flanges of the bushing, for it will be evident that the lugs may be considered as extendin directly from the body ortion of the bus ing.

In etaching the bushing from the jaw, it is merely necessary to depress pin end 40, by the use of any suitable implement until it clears aperture 34. Then by rockin the bushing into the position indicated in F ig. 4, and dropping it clear of pin 37, the bushing may be removed, springs 46 immediately returning pin end 40 into projected or operative position.

Wherea given bushing is to reduce the effective diameter of the tongs by any considerable degree it is preferably made in a box formation, as shown in Fig. 6. Thus, in Fig. 6, bushing B is made up of substantially rectangular segmental body ortion 69, from which extend upper and ower flanges 27 and 28, the latter being connected by horizontally spaced, vertical flanges 28". Thus, flanges 27, 28 and 28 may be considered as going to makeup a single mar 'nal flange F, extending entirely about the e ge of the substantially rectangular body portion 61, and it will be evident that this boxlike flanging of the bushing ives it great inherent strength and power of resistance without callin for undue weight. Attachment lugs 30' and 31, similar to lugs 30 and 31, respectively, extend from flanges 27 and 28, as clearly shown in Fig. 6, and provide for the attachment of the ushing to j aw 15, as shownin Fig. 7. With the box ty of bushing in use, however, the edges 61 0 vertical flanges 28", as well as arcuate faces 62 of flanges 27 and 28, preferabl engage the inner, arcuate face of jaw 15. Ill Figs. 8 and 9, I have shown variations of the bushing retaining meaps, the variations consisting in providing two, s ring-urged pins in place of one stationary an one springurged pin. In Fig. 8 the pins are. actuated by individual springs, while in Fig. 9, a sinle"spring is common to both pins. Except or these details, the assembly of jaws and bushings may be the same as that described above, and therefore similar elements will be designated by like reference numerals.

' In the variant form shown in Fig. 8, there are provided two identical locking pins 39 each of which is headed at 45 and adapted to slide longitudinally through a retention bushing 43 in bores 42. Springs 46 act individually against heads 45, to urge the pins outwardly or away from each other into projected or operative osition, heads 45 e mg the inner ends 0? bushin extent of 7 this movement. yieldingly in normal, operative pin ends 39 extend one above face 49 of aw 15 and the other below face 49 of the jaw.

It will. be readily understood that bushing 0, similar to bushing A, may be applied ile thus held positions, the

43 to'limit the wardly to jaw 15 in a manner similar to that described in connection with the other figures, that is, one of the bushing lugs maybe hooked over one of the pins and the bushing then swung towards the jaw to cause automatic engagement of the other lug with the other pin. Or the bushing may be thrust straight towards thejaw, both pins being depressed simultaneously by engagement of the beveled lugs therewith and then springing approximately simultaneously into locking engagement with the lugs.

The bushing may be. detached either by simultaneously depressing the pins, or by depressing on-ly one and rocking the bushing clear of the other.

The form shown in Fig. 9 is generally similar to that shown in Fig. 8 and similar parts are designated by like reference numerals. In this form, however, bore 42 extends clear through the jaw, and the single spring 46 acts against both pins 39 in a manner to hold them normally and yieldingly in projected position. The operations of applying and detaching bushing C may be the same as those described in connection with Fig. 8.

In Fig. 10 I have shown a variation wherein bushing D is provided with upper flange 27, lower flange 28, and intermediate flange or boss 28 the flanges and boss being provided with faces or shoulders 29 which are adapted to engage the inner face 23 of jaw 15.

A single attachment lug 30, with a nose 33 beveled at both top and bottom, extends horizontally from flange or boss 28, and is adapted to be entered in socket 63 in the jaw. A headed locking pin 67 is mounted for longitudinal movement through bore 68 in jaw 15, being normally ressed downwardly by spring 69 so as to bring its end 37 artially across socket 63. Spring 69 is con ned within bore 68 by screw plug 70, this plug having an aperture 71 through which the shank 7 2 of a removable releasing tool 73 may be thrust. Normally, however, tool 73 will be entirely detached from the tongs. When bushing D, which is reversible top for bottom, is thrust into position shown in Fig. 10, nose 38 moves the locking pin end 37 upagainst the action 0 soon as the bushing is fully enga e with the jaw, spring 69 pro ects pin en 3 into aperture. 74 of attachment lug 30, thus serving to hold the bushing releasably to the jaw. Aperture 7 4 is preferably of sufliciently greater diameter t an pin end 37 to insure that when flange shoulders 29 are in contact with the jaw, there Wlll be clearance between said pin end and the wall 75 of the aperture, thus eliminating any chance of the lug having a shearing action on the pin when the tong jaws are constricted about the work.

When the bushing is to be detached from the jaw, shank 72 i thrust downwardly through plug sprin 69. As

and threaded into engagement with pin 37, as at 76. Then by grasping handle 77 of tool 73 and lifting, pin 67 may be pulled clear of the attachment lug. Or, any suitable tool may be thrust upwardly through bore 78 in the lower jaw member and pushed against end of pin 67 to clear said pin from the attachment lug.

It will be understood the drawings and descriptions are to be considered merely as illustrative of and not restrictive on the claim appended hereto, for various changes in design, structure and arrangement may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of said claim.

I claim:

In tongs, a segmental jaw member, a bushing, axially alined pin ends carried by and extending from opposite faces of the aw member, the axes of the ends and of'the aw member being arallel, said ends bein adapted to engage t e bushing forreleasab holding it .to the aw member, one pin en being movable with relation to the jaw member into and out of extended position, yieldable means adapted normally to hold said one pin end in extended position, said bushing embodying a body member, and a pair of spaced, socketed attachment lugs extending transversely from the body member, the lug sockets being adapted to take said pin ends, a cam face on one of the attachment lu s and adapted to have cam engagement wit said one pin end during application of the bushing to the jaw when said other lug is engaged with the other pin end and the bushing is swung about said other pin end toward the jaw member, all in a manner whereby said one lug cams and holds said one in end out of extended position during suc swinging of the bushing, the yieldable means being ada ted to return said one pin end to exten ed position and to carry it into the socket of said one lug when the bushing has been swung a predetermined extent.

In witness that I claim the foregoin I have hereunto subscribed my name this 6 day of September, 1926.

ELIHU C. WILSON. 

